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Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

Now that my baby is 14 months and I don't have any worries about his eating habits, I don't care so much as when do I nurse. I do it before or after solids, whenever he wants it, as long as he's nursing frequently and seem content with it and I get plenty wet diapers I think we're doing fine.

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

I pretty much echo Kathy's response.... If baby is eating well and still having interest in nursing, take your cues as they come and don't worry quite so much about sticking to 'rules' on when to nurse, when to do solids, etc. The balance of where they are getting the bulk of ther nutrition gradually starts to shift from this point on, so it's OK if both are going well not to stress about BF first, I'd think.
-linda

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

All of the books I've read and alot of the info I've gotten from this website seems to indicate that if you're breastfeeding, you really should nurse before solids as baby still gets most of his/her nutrition from breastmilk until after the age of 1 year just like you did. As for after 1 year, I don't think I've heard any recommendations at all, other than I think I remember my pediatrition telling us that we needed to make sure that LO had learned to eat a big variety of foods and had a well balanced diet as far as solids go. Our's only had 2 teeth at age one, and hated jarred baby food, so we got pretty good at mashing whatever we were eating at a meal up for LO. I would guess that if you know your baby is eating enough different foods to have a well balanced diet, then I wouldn't worry about it and nurse whenever your baby seems to want to.

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

When ds was about 11.5 mo I finally relaxed my very ridgid "nurse before solids" rule and just fed him whatever whenever. I had always before made sure he had nursed within 30 mins before eating any solids. After I stopped worrying about it, I'm sure he usually still nursed within 45-60 min before eating most solids since he still was nursing so very often, but for me it was nice to sort of "let go" and stop worrying about it. lol I have heard many moms say they bf before solids, then qualify that by saying that they either usually bf "about an hour before" or that they bf "up to an hour before". Since ds nursed every hour until he was 5 mo and every 1-2 hours after that unti he was about 9 mo, the "1 hour before" thing just didn't seem to make sense for our situation.

Ever since he got over his newborn jaundice he's been growing very well and has always been very healthy.

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

I'm glad to read this post because I wondered this too. I am finding that following DS's cues as posted earlier seems to work the most. It is also nice to know that I don't have to worry so much about it, although my son is still a picky eater, and still nurses a lot. Thanks for the input!

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

After my daughter was 12 months, I just followed her lead on whether she wants solids or breastmilk first. She's two and still has a breastfeed first thing in the morning - I need time to wake up before I can start making porridge! Here, solids are pushed first from 9 months, which I don't agree with, but anyhow... I often found my daughter wouldn't eat if she was thirsty for breastmilk anyway, so I just went with it.

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

Originally Posted by christinep

If you continue to breastfeed after age one, are you also offering whole, dairy milk too?

You probably weren't asking me, but I've never offered my two year old daughter cows' milk as a drink except for the occasional 'fluffy' in town when I'm out for coffee. After she turned one though, I let her have whole cows' milk on her porridge (wasn't expressing for that!) and cheese etc. I delayed dairy as my brother was intolerant as a child.

Re: Breastfeed first, even after age 1?

Yes-I'm adding organic whole cow's milk to her diet very gradually. My plan is to have her on sippys of cow's milk/bm during the day, and to nurse in the morning and before bed. I plan to continue to pump 2 times a day.